r. ..-, 



COSSAKS. 



COSTA RICA. 



608 



On the termination of hostilities they return to their homes, anc 

 resume their usual industrial or agricultural employments. Among 

 themselves they are all equal, and all distinctions that existed during 

 the campaign are effaced. In return for their service in time of war, 

 of their manning the forts along the southern border of the empire, 

 and the Cossaks have some small liberty of internal government, the 

 right of fishing, hunting, making brandy, and collecting salt in the 

 sjlt-lakes and marshes of the steppes; they also hold a very consider- 

 able territory. 



The Cossaks of the Ukraine are descendants of emigrants from 

 lied Russia, who about the middle of the 14th century sought a 

 place of refuge on the lower Dnieper from the Poles and Tartars 

 Soon after these settlers were joined by other Russians who fled from 

 the yoke of Poland, and their descendants formed a kind of military 

 republic, which in course of a short time occupied the territory 

 between the Dnieper, the Dniester, and the Bug. Here they built 

 towns and villages, whence they made frequent incursions upon the 

 Tartars. The kings of Poland looked upon them as auxiliaries, and 

 granted them lands and several privileges. In the reign of Stephen 

 Bathory their capital was Trekhtimirof, and their hetman's authority 

 extended as far aa Kiev. In the 17th century, as stated above, being 

 ill treated by the Poles they devoted themselves to the service of the 

 Czar*, and were then able to muster a force of 60,000 men. Batturine 

 became the residence of their hetman, and Kiev, Poltava, Tchernigov, 

 and seven other towns became head-quarters of as many regiments, 

 all settled along the Dnieper. Pressed for room they sent out thence 

 colonies to Bielgorod and the vast steppes between the Dnieper anii 

 the Don. Thus arose the Slobode Cossaks, of whom there were five 

 regiments; the original stock from whom they sprung were long 

 distinguished as the Zaporogh Coesako, from their living with respecl 

 to those beyond the Cataracts (Porogh) of the Dnieper. Both these 

 ilivi.-ions of the Ukraine Cossaks bore arms, sometimes for the Poles, 

 sometimes for the Russians, and were not content with either. In 

 the reign of Peter the Great their betman endeavoured to shake of 

 the yoke of Russia by joining Charles XII. Peter punished the 

 Cossaks as rebels; and from this time the hetman-in chief was a 

 creature of the Russian court till the office was entirely suppressed 

 by Catharine II. The Cossaks of the Ukraine have lost in a great 

 measure their military organisation, and with the exception of a few 

 privileges they differ little from the rest of the Russians : they num- 

 ber about 900,000. When France invaded Russia in 1812 however 

 they equipped at their own expense 18,000 cavalry. 



The Zaporogh Cotsaki, established on the islands and along the 

 left bank of the Dnieper, formed a very turbulent republic. Their 

 capital was a Setch, or collection of huts built of wood and clay and 

 surrounded by a kind of rampart. Here on new-year's day meetings 

 were held to divide the hunting-grounds and fisheries, to elect chiefs, 

 and to organise the plundering excursions for the year. Russia 

 disliked such free-minded neighbours, and took advantage of their 

 revolt to Charles XII. to inflict such cruelties upon them as drove 

 them into Turkey. Soon tired of their Turkish masters they, with 

 the permission of the empress Anne, returned to Russia and built a 

 new Setch; but their habits of brigandage and their dislike of discipline 

 continued so strong that the Russians destroyed their new Setch, 

 and the inhabitants once more entered Turkey, where Catharine II. 

 finding them dispersed through the Crimea gave them leave to settle 

 in the Isle of Taman and along the Kuban and the eastern shores of 

 the Sea of Azof, She gave them also the privilege of choosing their 

 hetman, of fishing, and of making brandy, on condition of guarding 

 the frontier against the Circassians. This was the origin of the 

 Tschernomorski, or Black Sea Cossaks, whose chief town is Ekateri- 

 nodar. They extend along the Kuban and to the foot of the Caucasus. 

 They clothe themselves in sheepskins, and live on fish, game, and the 

 produce of their flocks ; but their rich men go richly clad, and have 

 large numbers of horses and cattle. 



The Coitakt of Ike Don had for their capital a town called Rasdora, 

 which was situated at the northern mouth of the Don. Towards the 

 end of the 16th century they admitted among them several Russian 

 settler*, and in the beginning of the 17th century some of the Circas- 

 sian Zaporogha joined them. A town was built on the Don, which 

 was named Tscherkask from the latter, and became the capital of the 

 ll'.M ('. :.ki. From tlii ', ton-n they r;m i<-d <m tlic-ir fcjr.-iy.< :igunnl 

 Azof, the Turks, and the Tartars of the Krimea. The republican 

 government, which has always been the characteristic of the Cossaks, 

 wag here administered with some regularity. The country was divided 

 into nine stanitzes, or districts, each of which annually elected its local 

 hetman and administered its own affairs independently. In a popular 

 awembly the hetuian-in-chief proposed matters for public deliberation, 

 and the people gave their decision. Russia, alarmed at these demo- 

 cratic institution!, placed the Cossaks under a military chancery, 

 presided orer by a hetman in name, who is appointed by Russia, and 

 is at tlie game time civil and military governor. Indeed the Russians 

 have succeeded in getting the Appointment of the hetmau in nearly 

 all the Cosnak tribe*, and the office is now filled in all instances by a 

 Russian officer. The capital of the Don Cossaks, which soon became 

 flourishing town, was ilc.itroyrd by firu in 1744; a new town, also 

 called Tcherkask, was built in 1805, but though it is a pretty large 

 place it has not superseded old Tcherkak, owing to the favourable 



situation of the latter for trade upon the Don. These are the only 

 towns in their territory. The Don Cossak territory is divided into above 

 a hundred stauitzes : such of the population as have adopted a settled 

 life live in hamlets on the lands of the nobles entirely separated from 

 the stanitzes, which are inhabited by Cossaks only. The Don 

 Cossaks have the right of hunting, fishing, and making brandy 

 (which rights are generally enjoyed by all the Cossaks) in return for 

 military service. They also rear vast numbers of horses and cattle. 



From the Don Cossaks have sprung the Cossaks of the Terek, the 

 first settlement of which was established on that river by Peter the 

 Great ; the Grebenski Cossaks who were driven out of Russia for their 

 robberies on the Volga, and settled among the Caucasian Mountains ; 

 and the Cossaks of Astrakhan, who are descended from the regiments 

 sent to defend the frontier against the Tartars. 



A part of the horde driven by the Russians from the A 7 olga 

 marched eastward under Yermak or Yermolai-Timofief in 1575 and 

 subjugated a large portion of Siberia, and by their arms Russia 

 extended her sway over the whole of north-eastern Asia. Many of the 

 Siberian Cossaks have become peasants ; the rest still maintain their 

 military organisation, and like the Don Cossaks inhabit a series of 

 stanitzes, each commanded by its local hetnaan. 



The Ural Coisaks are also descended from those of the Don, and 

 were originally part of the horde driven on account of their robberies 

 from the Volga by the Russians ill the latter half of the 16th century. 

 They are a very mixed people however, as they have admitted into their 

 number Turkomans, Kalmuks, Persians, Kirghiz, and others whom 

 the fortune of war has put into their hands. Their country is a wild 

 steppe, barren except in a few spots, and where the inundations of 

 the Ural fertilise it. They cultivate gardens and the vine to some 

 little extent, and the increase of population compels them to attend 

 to agriculture ; but their chief wealth consists in their vast flocks of 

 sheep and in the sturgeon fisheries of the Ural, which were granted 

 to them by the Czar Michael Feodorowitz. Wool and sheep they 

 export in return for manufactured and other goods. Like all the other 

 Cossaks they have lost their liberties ; they are subjected to u 

 military chancery in which their hetman presides, but which is 

 directed by the military governor of Orenburg. Peter the Great was 

 the first who abrogated their republican constitution. They often 

 revolted and suffered much in their endeavours to regain them. 

 Under Catharine I. they stooped to petition for a restoration of their 

 ancient privileges, and obtaining nothing they again revolted and 

 joined the famous Pugatschef, who represented himself to bo 

 Peter III. In the cause of this cruel and unprincipled leader they 

 suffered dreadfully, and at last betrayed him to the Russians. Never- 

 theless their old liberties were not restored; their artillery was takeu 

 from them, their popular assemblies were suppressed, and a Russian 

 garrison was stationed in their stronghold of Jaik. From Jaik they 

 had hitherto taken their distinctive name, but henceforth they were 

 to call themselves 'Cossaks of the Ural.' They were allowed to 

 retain their lands and the exclusive right of fishing. Their chief 

 town, Uralsk, is situated near the confluence of Tschagan with the Ural. 



COSSEIR, a town of Egypt on the west coast of the Red Sea, iii 

 26 7' N. lat., 34 21' E. long., is about 100 miles E. by S. from 

 Kenneh on the Nile in Upper Egypt. The caravans which trade with 

 Arabia proceed from Kenueh to Cosseir through the sandy deert 

 east of the Nile ; the track about two-thirds of the way from Kenneh 

 crosses a rocky ridge, on the east side of which a valley opens leading 

 to the coast of the Red Sea where Cosseir is situated. Several springs 

 or wells are found on this track. The Ataoni Arabs live in this part 

 of the country and escort the caravans between Kenueh and Cosseir. 

 Cosseir is defended by a citadel ; although there is 110 harbour at the 

 place it is the chief medium of communication between Egypt and 

 Arabia. From Cosseir vessels cross over to Jidda, the port of Mecca, 

 or to Yambo, the port of Medina. Cosseir is composed of a small 

 assemblage of poor dwellings, the resident population of which 

 amounts to about 1600 ; but there are large storehouses where the 

 caravans deposit their goods. About 6 miles N.W. from the modem 

 town is the village of old Cosseir. 



COSSIMBAJ5AR. [MOORSHEDABAD.] 



COSTA RICA, Republic of, the most southern state of Central 

 America ; occupies the western part of the table-land which divides 

 the plains of Panama from those of Nicaragua. It lies between 

 8 and 11 N. lat., 82" 30' and 86 W. long. On the S.E. it is 

 bounded by the republic of New Granada, from which it is divided 

 by a line extending from Point Burica (about 83) north by east, to a 

 point a little west of the lagoon of Chiriqui ; on the N. it is bounded 

 by the republic of Nicaragua, from which it is divided by the Rio 

 San Juan from its mouth in the Caribbean Sea to the point where it 

 issues from Lake Nicaragua, and west of that by the southern 

 extremity of thfl lake itself, and thence westward by an imaginary 

 iue about 11 N. lat., to Salinas Bay on the Pacific Oceau.^ On 

 the E. Costa Rica is bounded by the Caribbean Sea ; ou the W. by 

 the Pacific Ocean. Its extreme length is about 260 miles, its average 

 breadth about 80 miles. The area is about 17,000 miles ; the entire 

 population 100,174. 



Coast-line, Surface, &c. Both the eastern and western coasts have 

 a general north-western and south-eastern-direction, but they differ 

 considerably in character. Along the Caribbean Sea the coast la 



